Historical Employment and Wages, 1975 - 2000

Historical data for the years 1975-2000 is based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. With the release of data in March 2003, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) replaced the SIC system. NAICS-based data is available from 2000 forward. SIC-and NAICS-based data are not comparable.

The following information relates to the ES-202/QCEW data set for New York State. The data available are annual average employment and wages for all employees covered by unemployment insurance, grouped by industry division and county for 1975 through 2000. The ES-202/QCEW data are derived from information obtained from the administration of the Unemployment Insurance program. As such, the data are subject to breaks in continuity stemming from changes in (UI) coverage that are dictated by UI law. Data users should be aware that abrupt changes in employment or wage levels may result from administrative or legal changes rather than economic events.

The record layout for the data file follows. All the data elements have numeric values. The data is in ASCII fixed field format and delimited by commas. There are no leading zeros on the data file.

Adjusted Weekly Wages:

The adjusted weekly wage is the average weekly wage, adjusted for inflation, using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): U.S. City Average which represents approximately 87 percent of the U.S. population. Adjusted wages are expressed in 1982 - 1984 dollars, the base year reference period for the current CPI-U. Although there is a separate CPI series for the New York City area, the CPI-U U.S. City Average was used so that data would be comparable throughout the entire state. (The New York - Northern New Jersey area's index numbers can be obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

Average Employment:

The average employment is the summed monthly employment, as reported in the ES-202/QCEW, divided by 12.

Average Annual Wages:

The average wage is the average yearly wage paid to the employees of all the reporting units for the industry division and county as reported in the ES-202/QCEW. It is computed by dividing the total wages for the year by the average monthly employment.

Average Weekly Wages:

The average weekly wage is computed by dividing the total wages for the year by the average monthly employment, and then dividing the result by 52.

County Code (FIPS):

Each county in New York State has been assigned a numeric "FIPS" code by the Federal Government. These codes are used as the identifiers for the counties in this data set. Their meanings are listed below. Employees working in New York State, who cannot be classified as working in any one county, or who are working at sites that have not yet been classified, or are unknown, are reported in the classification, "Statewide." Also included in this classification are New York State residents employed overseas or out-of-state but electing to be covered by New York State Unemployment Insurance. Total employment in this classification generally numbers approximately 100,000 (approximately 1.25 percent of the total number of workers covered by New York State's Unemployment Insurance). Data users with access to New York State-specific files will find that these county codes differ from those used "in-house" by the New York State Department of Labor.

County Code (FIPS)

000 = Total state

001 = Albany

003 = Allegany

005 = Bronx

007 = Broome

009 = Cattaraugus

011 = Cayuga

013 = Chautauqua

015 = Chemung

017 = Chenango

019 = Clinton

021 = Columbia

023 = Cortland

025 = Delaware

027 = Dutchess

029 = Erie

031 = Essex

033 = Franklin

035 = Fulton

037 = Genesee

039 = Greene

041 = Hamilton

043 = Herkimer

045 = Jefferson

047 = Kings (Brooklyn)

049 = Lewis

051 = Livingston

053 = Madison

055 = Monroe

057 = Montgomery

059 = Nassau

061 = New York (Manhattan)

063 = Niagara

065 = Oneida

067 = Onondaga

069 = Ontario

071 = Orange

073 = Orleans

075 = Oswego

077 = Otsego

079 = Putnam

081 = Queens

083 = Rensselaer

085 = Richmond

087 = Rockland

089 = St. Lawrence

091 = Saratoga

093 = Schenectady

095 = Schoharie

097 = Schuyler

099 = Seneca

101 = Steuben

103 = Suffolk

105 = Sullivan

107 = Tioga

109 = Tompkins

111 = Ulster

113 = Warren

115 = Washington

117 = Wayne

119 = Westchester

121 = Wyoming

123 = Yates

999 = Statewide

Industry Code:

The industry code designates the division level of Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). The source for this classification is the "Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1987," published by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The codes assigned to the industry divisions in the data set should not be confused with the "first digit" of the SIC code. Section 537 of the Labor Law requires that information provided by individual employers be kept confidential. Due to this confidentiality requirement, certain industry divisions have been consolidated in this data set. For the majority of the counties in the state, consolidating "Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing" with "Mining" and "Unclassified" yielded employment totals which could be disclosed to the public without jeopardizing the confidentiality of individual employer data. However, in a few counties further consolidation was required to obtain a disclosable total. For these counties, a different grouping included "Construction" with "Agriculture," "Mining" and the "Unclassified" group to obtain a releasable total. Therefore, the data sets for most counties have industry 01 but no industry 02. Industry 02 is the grouping for the special cases which required further consolidation. Users should not be alarmed to find that most of the counties have no industry 02. The numeric values assigned to the industry divisions in this data set follow.

Industry Code

00 = All Industries

01 = Agriculture, Mining & Unclassified

02 = Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Unclassified

03 = Construction

04 = Manufacturing

05 = Transportation & Public Utilities

06 = Wholesale Trade

07 = Retail Trade

08 = Finance, Insurance & Real Estate

09 = Services

10 = Public Administration

Reporting Unit:

The reporting unit is the economic unit for which data are submitted on the employer's unemployment insurance contribution report, or on a multiple worksite report. The reporting unit is often (though not always) synonomous with the terms "worksite" and "establishment."

State Code (FIPS):

The New York State "FIPS" identifier (36) is embedded in the file for those who wish to merge multi-state data sets.

Total Wages:

Total wages is the sum of all remunerations reported by all the reporting units in the ES-202/QCEW for the year.